Gloucester, Massachusetts

“ By his wife Maud, Gloucester had several children, of whom the most noteworthy were (1) his successor Gilbert (the 'Red') [q. v.] , (2) Thomas de Clare, the friend of Prince Edward (d. 1287) , (3) Boso or Bono the good, a canon of York. Of his daughters, Margaret married Edmund, a younger son of Richard, earl of Cornwall, and Roesia married Roger Mowbray in 1270 (Land of Morgan, pp. 141-2; Pat. Rolls, 31 a) .
Gloucester was the most powerful English noble of his time. ”

“ The old stagers know the easy places and give them a natural preference.
The one place of terror on the line I took was Gloucester. The guardians of the Gloucester Union had made up their minds to put down the casual pauper, and, as the means readiest to hand, they determined to make the work too hard for him. I was so persistently warned against Gloucester that I went there to see for myself what it was like. The house itself was orderly and clean, and the discipline as complete as in a gaol. ”

“ Athelstan died here in 941, and a few years afterwards the Danes, who overrun and devastated almost the whole of England, burned the town and monastery. The history of Gloucester, however, was without stirring incidents, excepting an occasional destructive fire, until the siege took place in the Civil War, its people devoting themselves more to commerce than to politics, and in the early part of the seventeenth century engaging extensively in the manufacture of pins. Gloucester, however, gave the title to several earls and dukes, generally men not much envied ”

“ The history of this great company goes back to 1623 when the Pilgrim Fathers founded Gloucester. There is every evidence to prove that the present officers are descendants of the original settlers even though the present company had its organization in 1849. ”

“ The town is quaint and picturesque, but the buildings generally are modern, most of them dating from the days of good Queen Anne, but they exhibit great variety in design. The most noted of the older Gloucester houses is the "New Inn," on Northgate Street. After the murder of Edward II. at Berkeley Castle, not far from Gloucester, where he had been imprisoned in a dungeon in the keep, in 1327, his remains were brought to the abbey church at Gloucester for interment, a shrine being raised over them by the monks. ”

“ The drama of Gloucester’s life is drawing to a close, and the tragedy of its end is in sight. Any lingering regard for his uncle in the mind of the King had passed, and his attitude during the visit of the French embassy which came to England in 1445 illustrates the success of the tactics employed by Margaret. It was on July 15 that the ambassadors came before the King, whom they found supported by Suffolk, Dorset, the Cardinal of York, the Chancellor, Adam Moleyns, Gloucester, Chester, and Warwick. ”

“ Gloucester is one of the most thriving cities in the south of England. It has been a town of some description from quite early times, for the British had a fortress on the site which the Romans are believed to have occupied as a strong position on the road into Wales. The Danes repeatedly made incursions into this part of the country, and Gloucester suffered very much from their ravages; but probably through the fact that the kings of Mercia instituted a palace and priory there, the city seems to have had sufficient strength to recover after each disaster. ”

“ CHAPTER VI. GLOUCESTER—BRISTOL—BATH—SALISBURY—SARUM—AMESBURY—STONEHENGE—WILTON.
At 6 p. m., after a scant two hours' ride, we take rooms at the Gloucester House, and are out on a walk in another beautiful town, the River Severn running through it,—a town more like Worcester than like Hereford, though in population (18,330) strikingly like the latter. The city is of British origin, but is very ancient. It was once a Roman station by the name of Colonia Glevum, and under the Emperor Claudius received the name of Claudia Castra. ”

“ The siege of Gloucester was made by King Charles's troops, the citizens having warmly espoused the cause of the Parliament and strongly fortified their city, mounting guns for its defence which they got from London. A polygonal line of fortifications surrounded Gloucester, which was then much smaller than now, and the bastions came down to the river, with outlying works to defend a small suburb on the opposite bank. [Pg 339] The Cavaliers were in great strength in Western England, and the malignity of the Gloucester pin-makers seriously embarrassed them. ”

“ We also find a letter addressed to Gloucester during the reign of Henry VI. from an English merchant at Amiens, asking for his protection in matters commercial. [1091] The Duke had realised the strength of that new power which was arising in England, the power of the middle classes, the traders, and herein he foreshadowed the subsequent commercial policy of the first Yorkist King.
Gloucester began life as a soldier, he ended it as a politician. In the first capacity he showed ability to adapt himself to the new methods of warfare. ”

“ Gloucester had seen enough both of the strength of the town and the valour of the besieged to realise that there could be no question of a speedy surrender, so copying the tactics of his brother, he built strong huts for his men, and made his camp appear almost like a little town, fortified by a ditch and mound, so that no sortie of the enemy could take him by surprise. ”

“ The wretched mother knows instinctively the fate in store for her offspring, and takes sanctuary at Westminster with her second son, the little Duke of York, a boy of eleven years of age. With fair and specious words a prince of the Church persuades the widow to surrender the lad, and forthwith he joins his brother in the Tower.
And now Gloucester ruthlessly hurries to the block those who by the ties of kindred and friendship are likely to befriend the boys, and ere long no man dares raise his voice against any of his bloodthirsty acts. He is a dictator—and dictators easily develop into kings. ”

“ He claimed the regency, both on grounds of kinship and the will of Henry V. Parliament rejected his pretensions. At last royal letters patent, confirmed by act of parliament, provided that Gloucester, during his brother's presence in England, was only to act as principal counsellor after him, but that when Bedford was absent Gloucester was to be himself protector and defender of the kingdom and church, and chief counsellor to the king. As Bedford was likely to be fully occupied in France, Gloucester at once became protector, with a salary of eight thousand marks a year. ”

“ The General Assembly sitting in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1807, John Gloucester was recommended to the Assembly, by the Presbytery of Union Synod of Tennessee, as a candidate for licensure to labor as a missionary among colored people. Dr. Alexander at once seized upon the circumstance as a favorable opportunity of securing the services of Mr. Gloucester in forwarding and carrying out his long cherished desire of raising up a church in Philadelphia. ”

“ Nothing speaks more strongly for the fact that the Protector, rather than the Chancellor, stood for the cause of good government than the undivided support which the long-headed, peace-loving burgesses of London gave to the former. In point of fact, both Gloucester and Beaufort were ambitious men, and neither was over-burdened with principles. Yet we must not forget that the Protectorate was in the hands of Gloucester, and that the Bishop, as Chancellor, was attacking a power which was legal, though to him obnoxious. ”

“ Gloucester is in hot siege; nothing but the obdurate valour of a few men there prevents the King, with Prince Rupert, called also Prince Robert and Prince Robber, from riding roughshod over us. [7] The City, with much emotion, ranks its Trained Bands under Essex; making up an Army for him, despatches him to relieve Gloucester. He marches on the 26th; steadily along, in spite of rainy weather and Prince Rupert ”

“ Gloucester, the better to deceive the people, and make them to believe in his purity and religious ardour, compelled this poor woman, whose sole crime against the state was that her Creator had given her such beauty as to cause the amorous Edward to cast a longing eye upon her—which, with that fiery Sovereign, was ever the prologue to a history of a woman's loss of character—to thus do penance, draped in a sheet, before the insulting eyes of the scum of the city's population. ”

“ My most dear Gloucester!
O, the difference of man and man!
To thee a woman's services are due;
My fool usurps my body.
Osw. Madam, here comes my lord. Exit.
Enter Albany.
Gon. I have been worth the whistle.
Alb. O Goneril,
You are not worth the dust which the rude wind
Blows in your face! I fear your disposition. ”

“ S. Lysons, Honorary Canon of Gloucester Cathedral, has most kindly furnished me with the following particulars relative to Gloucester, its iron-trade, and its arms. 'Gloucester was celebrated for its smiths, being so near the mines of the Forest of Dean, which were worked both by the Romans and the Britons; coins of the former and tools of the latter having been found in them. The Via Fabrorum of Roman Gloucester still retains the name of Long Smith Street. The chief employment of the town of Gloucester, before the reign of William the Conqueror, was making and forging of iron ”

“ The Roman du Renard, unlike its predecessors of the Carlovingian and Arthurian epic cycles, was produced by the growing sense of independence in the French towns. It has a direct bourgeois inspiration, which must have appealed to a man who found his chief supporters among the burgesses of the City of London. Gloucester’s personal tastes may also be traced in his possession of a copy of the resolutions passed at the Council of Basel, [1378] and in the Songe du Vergier, which also formed part of his library. ”

“ Gloucester was indeed a "workman that needed not to be ashamed," for he knew well how to divide the Word of life, giving to each his portion in due season. This no doubt accounts for the number of persons that waited or attended upon his ministry—and it is a fact that his deep piety and earnest devotion to his calling made him very many friends from among the rich and influential citizens of Philadelphia; he not only had the warm and abiding friendship of such men as Drs. Alexander, Green, Janeway and Potts, and the members of the Presbyterian churches then in Philadelphia, but Dr. ”

“ Beyond this the Protector had no independent power, in all else he was controlled by a Council of which all the best-known men of the period were members, for with Gloucester were associated the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of London, Winchester, Norwich, and Worcester; the Duke of Exeter, and the Earls of March, Warwick, and Westmoreland; the Earl Marshal, and the Lords Fitzhugh, Cromwell, Hungerford, Tiptoft, and Beauchamp. ”

“ Many of the nobles and citizens flew to arms, and some flocked to the queen at Westminster, and others to Lord Hastings in London. Hastings continued to assure them that there was no cause of alarm; that Gloucester was a true man; and he was most likely the more ready to believe this himself from his own dislike of the queen's family.
On the 4th of May Gloucester conducted his royal captive into the capital. At Hornsey Park, the lord mayor and corporation, in scarlet, met the royal procession, followed by 400 citizens, all in violet. ”

“ Gloucester and Buckingham then went to Northampton and met Rivers there. For all that appears in this part of the narrative, Gloucester was in London, and came thence with Buckingham to Northampton. Gloucester was really in the marches of Scotland, and he could not possibly have carried on {209} all these intrigues at that distance, between April 9 when King Edward died and the 23rd when Rivers left Ludlow. ”

“ Gloucester is spoken of as a man of profligate habits and great ambition. These general adjectives are convenient for the historian; they sum up a man, and present him in bold outline. Now in nature there is no outline, only gradual shadings. ”

“ The citizens of London, indignant at the loss of their charter, witnessed the dissension between the king and Gloucester with great satisfaction, and when the earl took up arms they opened their gates to receive him. But Gloucester was ill-prepared to maintain the contest on which he had entered, and at the approach of the royal army he demanded leave to negotiate. The permission was granted, and Gloucester obtained a pardon for himself on condition of entire submission to the king, while the Londoners purchased their safety for a fine of, 25,000 marks. ”

“ That there were other colored men in Philadelphia laboring for the religious elevation of their people, is known, but if there ever was a man in Philadelphia of Mr. Gloucester's position, whose upright and Christian walk and general character, considered from every point of view, that won for him the respect and esteem of the great and good men of his day, that man was Mr. ”

“ The very men who had petitioned the Pope to divorce Jacqueline from the Duke of Brabant, [582] now sought to win favour from him whom they had opposed. Such was the state of public opinion when Gloucester rejoined his wife at Mons after his fiasco at Soignies. [583]
In the capital the citizens had never whole-heartedly welcomed the rule of the foreigner, and had always disliked the regent’s English followers. ”